I have NEVER seen them pull back in for anyone, that was truly amazing. I hope people will heed your warning, Cas, and not try to push it. When they say 3:30, they mean 3:30 ship's time, not your time. Please everyone, be sure to keep your watches to ship's time in every port.

I always verify on the way off the ship as to what the ship's time is. Every morning its in the ship's newsletter, but I double check one the way off the ship. While it wouldn't be the end of the world to be left on a nice island, it would not be worth the hassle.

I would never ever EVER cut it short getting back on ship. But I wonder... if the first people were on a ships tour that was running late and the other people were not.
on time (dont remember which ship) a pilot boat brought some people that had missed the ship.

Originally posted by penny3333:
Please everyone, be sure to keep your watches to ship's time in every port.

Good advice Penny. I wonder if this was part of the problem. That the passengers had their watches on local time instead of ship time. On my previous 2 cruises, I was back at least an hour and a half before we had to set sail, or one hour before they said we had to be back on board.

Also if it was a ship excursion for the first group, then I would have thought that the ship wouldn't have even pulled the gangway, since the ship staff (hopefully) would know that the tour was late getting back. Seeing as how the gangway was already pulled and they were making their way out to sea, then that group probably went off on their own.

People seem to lose track of time on Cozumel for some reason. I have seen this happen several times there. One time a person I knew had to fly to Jamaica (the next port) to re-join the cruise. That flight cost him more than the cruise.

I would be terrified to be left behind. I only take the money I expect to need and it usually is 50 or 60 bucks on shore. I dont take my passport with me either. can you imagine being stuck in another country with no money and no passport and no transportation home...oh my unthinkable

PC Guy, that is a great question and one I cannot answer. Maybe one of our experts can. I don't know if they could because they probably wouldn't have a room. I wonder if they'd make the person pay full cruise fare, if they did let them board?

Macmom, that is scary to think about for sure!I don't take a whole lot of money with me on shore, either. I do take a credit card, but just one with a small limit, in case I lose it. I guess you could call Amex.

I always bring a credit card ashore. For this reason and others. The passport thing concerns me though... I guess if you talk with the local cruise personal they can confirm you passport status??? Not sure how that works.